Tour de France: Geraint Thomas survives horror crash on stage 16

Geraint Thomas lost only 38 seconds despite being involved in a nasty crash on stage 16

Geraint Thomas stayed sixth overall at the Tour de France despite hitting a telegraph pole in a shocking late crash on stage 16 as team-mate Chris Froome retained the overall lead.

Thomas (Team Sky) was descending to the finish line in Gap from the Col de Manse when he was barged into by Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) on a tight right-hand turn.

The impact deflected him off the road and he hit the telegraph pole with the back of his head before falling down a steep banking.

Chris Froome retained his 3min 10sec lead of the Tour on stage 16

It was a frightening incident, but the Welshman remounted his bike and managed to finish just 38 seconds down on the main group of favourites containing Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

The result means Froome remains his 3min 10sec ahead of second-placed Quintana and 3min 32sec in front of third-placed Van Garderen, while Thomas holds his position in the standings but falls to 5min 32sec down.

Stage 16 was won by Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), who attacked out of a 23-man breakaway group midway up the Col de Manse and then hung on down the descent to win by 30 seconds from runner-up Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and 36 seconds from third-placed Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling).

Breakaway rider Ruben Plaza won stage 16 solo

Thomas said: "Just stay where you are. There's only eight or 10 of us in a group. Everyone knows it's a dodgy descent. I just got taken out. One hundred per cent it was a mistake. We were just coming into a tight right, Barguil just came straight into me. Nothing you can do there.

"I'm OK, just hit my head on the lamppost, but I'm all right. The doctor asked me a few questions, my name and stuff. I said I'm Chris Froome."

Barguil said: "I was very frightened. I didn't do it on purpose."

Peter Sagan had to settle for his fifth second place of this year's race

Stage 16 took the riders on a rolling 201km route ending with an 8.9km climb of the Col de Manse and then a breakneck 9km descent into Gap. It looked ideal for a breakaway winner, and a huge group duly went up the road early in the day.

As the best descender and fastest sprinter, Sagan was heavily marked when the escapees started the climb, but Plaza was allowed to go clear after attacking around 7km to the summit.

The Spaniard had a lead of over a minute over the top and although Sagan put on a thrilling show of descending skills, he was unable to close the deficit and had to settle for his fifth second place of this year’s race.

Vincenzo Nibali finished 28 seconds ahead of Froome after a late attack

Back in the peloton, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was allowed to pull away after attacking around 2km from the top and he hung on down the descent to cross the line 28 seconds ahead of the Froome group.

Earlier in the day, Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh abandoned the race due to illness.

Tuesday is the Tour’s second rest day, but the race resumes on Wednesday with a 161km mountain stage from Dignes-les-Bains to Pra Loup. Follow it with our live blog from 1pm BST and find out more about the route in our race guide.

Stage 16 result

1 Ruben Plaza (Esp) Lampre-Merida, 4:30:10

2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, +30secs

3 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling, +36

4 Simon Geschke (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, +40

5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing, same time

6 Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

7 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN-Qhubeka, +53

8 Thomas de Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal, +1:00

9 Luis Angel Mate (Esp) Cofidis, +1:22

10 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Europcar, st

Selected others

24 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +17:44

25 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, +18:12

28 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st

30 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, st

32 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, st

34 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, +18:50

General classification

1 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, 64:47:16

2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +3:10

3 Tejay van Garderen (US) BMC Racing, +3:32

4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, +4:02

5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo, +4:23

6 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, +5:32

7 Robert Gesink (Net) LottoNL-Jumbo, +6:23

8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +7:49

9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing, +8:53

10 Warren Barguil (Fra) Giant-Alpecin, +11:03